1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a surgical glove having an integral visual indicator by which to automatically and instantaneously alert a health care professional of the need to reglove should the structural integrity of the glove be compromised by a puncture or tear that could expose the wearer to a contagious and potentially life threatening disease.
2. Background Art
A rapidly growing problem facing surgeons and health care professionals who treat high risk patients is contracting nosocomial infection of hepatitis, AIDS and other contagious diseases through punctured, torn or otherwise structurally compromised surgical gloves. In some instances, the surgical glove may have a manufacturing defect (e.g. a pin hole). In other instances, where a sharp instrument such as a hypodermic cannula, scalpel, scissors and the like, is used in an operating theater, a surgeon may accidentally puncture his glove. In either instance, a penetration of the glove and the unsafe condition resulting therefrom often goes undetected until the health care professional removes his or her gloves at the end of the procedure and discovers a collection of blood inside the glove. Should the patient being treated have a contagious disease, the health care professional will be exposed to the possibility of contracting the disease and to the potentially life-threatening effects thereof. Some surgeons are under the misconception that accidental punctures may be avoided by simply double gloving. However, as a consequence of the very sharp instruments being used in an operating theater, double gloving will offer the surgeon little extra protection against an accidental puncture and the risks associated therewith.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,752 issued Apr. 15, 1997 describes a puncture evident surgical glove having an integral, non-obtrusive indicator bulb by which to accurately, instantaneously and visually alert a health care professional of the need to reglove as a consequence of a compromise in the structural integrity of the glove caused by a puncture or tear. The patented puncture evident glove includes outer and inner latex glove membranes that are spaced from one another to define an air flow path that is initially evacuated and sealed from the atmosphere. A flexible indicator bulb having a hollow body is sandwiched between the outer and inner membranes and adapted to expand to an inflated condition from an as-packaged compressed condition in response to the outer glove membrane being punctured or torn. Accordingly, the health care professional will be readily able to determine the status of his glove depending upon whether the indicator bulb is compressed or inflated.
While the aforementioned flexible indicator bulb is effective to provide a visual warning to health care professionals, the indicator bulb uses an exhaust tube and fluid valve connected between the bulb and the atmosphere. Moreover, the indicator bulb must first be pumped prior to the glove being worn so as to manually evacuate the air flow path between the outer and inner glove membranes and cause the bulb to assume the as-packaged compressed condition. What is still more, the precise location of the indicator bulb between the outer and inner glove membranes is important to assure immediate response to a puncture or tear through the glove.
In view of the foregoing, what would be desirable is a surgical glove, or the like, having improvements to the patented visual indicator bulb so as to eliminate the previously used exhaust tube and fluid valve and avoid a position-critical disposition of the bulb, whereby to reduce the part count and facilitate the manufacturing process. It would also be desirable that in the as-packaged state of the glove, the indicator bulb is initially evacuated so as to alert the health care professional to the patency of the glove prior to use. In this same regard, it would be desirable to avoid having to initially pump the bulb in order to manually evacuate the air flow path prior to the glove being worn.